Inside the warehouse Z slowly backed away from Lubo and Marah. Marah was glaring angrily at the body at her feet whilst Lothor carefully observed the twenty or so women in front of him. The yellow ranger had to buy some time, surely B Squad must've heard the gunshot from their position. Knowing Bridge he would leading the charge through the door within a couple of minutes. That might be too long to save the women though, Lothor didn't strike her as a patient person.

She drew level with Gia and moved her head as close as she dared, "The rear exit is unguarded", she whispered, "if something happens to me, move towards that position as quickly as you can".

Gia frowned briefly before quickly resuming a neutral expression, "How did you know that?" came the brunette's response.

"Listen Gia I'm the one they want", Z began, "there's a squad of SPD officers in the area who are on their way but I need to buy them time". Z was impressed that Gia kept any trace of emotion off her face, "If something happens to me-".

"Hey no talking", one of the hired thugs shouted out from nearby.

"Something to share ladies", Lothor asked them with a smooth voice, "maybe we should give you both a thorough searching. Maybe your employers at SPD are listening to this conversation", he added with venom.

Z was about to step forward but she noticed that Gia was slowly brushing her hair away from her ear. Suddenly Gia face steeled into a mask of determination, "Delgardo, stand down", she hissed with a steely tone.

The yellow ranger didn't offer much of a response, she was too surprised to learn that Gia knew her real name. She watched as the blonde slowly stepped forward, her heels clicking on the cold stone floor, "Well well", Lothhor flashed a predatory smile, "who do we have here? Perhaps you would so kind to identify yourself girly".

Gia glared at the crime boss before casually flicking her right wrist. Something appeared in her hand, " Oh you know my name its Gia, but im something you fear" Gia smirked, Z stared at the blonde in disbelief.

A clicking sound filled the room and Z instantly recognised it as several safeties being removed from numerous weapons. Despite the orders of this Megaforce ranger, the yellow ranger slowly began to reach for her morpher, "You've got guts girl", Marah scoffed, "but there's only one of you and lots of us".

"Two of us", Z moved to stand beside Gia, "Elizabeth Delgardo SPD", she flashed her morpher, "fancy taking on two?"

"I told you to stand down Officer Delgardo", Gia groaned.

"Yeah, well I'm not good at following orders", Z replied firmly, "my new partner's been a bad influence on me. Plus it would be a shame to see you turned into sweet cheese at the hands of these goons".

A second gunshot from Marah, this one aimed at the roof stopped their conversation, "So there are two of you, we've still got you outnumbered".

"Oh but we're not ordinary", Gia smirked and turned to Z, "Officer Delgardo, yellow ranger correct?"

The mention of the word ranger made a number of group tense up. Power Rangers was well respected not just in Newtech City but across the whole country. Having one of their officers in their midst was bad news, "Correct Gia", Z confirmed, "does that thing come with morphing capability?" she pointed at the device in Kenzi's hand.

"fancy a yellow ranger team up?"

Suddenly something clicked in the back of Z's mind, she knew the name was familiar from her ranger history lessons. The surname and the mention of yellow ranger put all the pieces in place, "It would be an honour", Z smiled.

Z noticed something flash across a window at the far end of the warehouse, four brightly coloured figures moving in their direction. Seconds later a couple of helmeted head poked through a tiny gap in the door. She held back a gasp at the sight of a blue ranger amongst their number. What the hell was Lina doing here and more importantly, who had activated her morpher?

She noticed Lina press a single finger against her helmet roughly where her lips would have been. The blue ranger then pointed over to Bridge who was holding up three fingers. Z could tell that Gia had seen this too and shared a brief look. Both Bridge and JJ aimed their weapons towards Lothor just as the red ranger counted down on his hand.

When Bridge's countdown reached zero, both he and Lina opened fire on the group with stun blasts. With everyone's attention on the red and blue ranger's, it allowed Z and Gia enough time to morph, "SPD Emergency", Z called.

Gia called loudly, "Go Go Megaforce. A flash of light later and the yellow Megaforce Ranger stood in her place.

A fraction of a second later the main door burst open with JJ in the lead closely followed by Syd. From the oppersit direction the rest of the Megaforce Rangers appeared. Z watched as the blue ranger rolled a couple of small cylinders across the floor in their direction, "Flash bangs", she called over to Gia. Turning her back,she moved towards the startled potential escorts, "Get down and cover your ears", Z shouted.

The stun grenades exploded with a flash of dazzling light and an ear piercing screech. Her suit tuned out the worst effects of the blast but it still made her feel a little uncomfortable. A quick glance to her left told her that Gia was feeling the same way. Lothor, footsoldiers and the girls who didn't follow Z's order were feeling the full effect of the grenade. One thug staggered in Z's direction, tumbling over her crouched body. The yellow ranger put him out of his misery with her morpher, judgement mode found him guilty of a crime of some sort fairly quickly.

A pair of white gloved hands pulled her back to her feet and a quick glance at the blue spandex told her it was Lina, "Did Sky lift your exclusion?" the yellow ranger asked.

"Not exactly", Lina grumbled, stunning a guard with a round from her Deltamax Striker, "been following the mission through the new radio in our morphers, Bridge was the one who let me morph". If Lina could've seen Z's eyes, she would've seen the stony glare of an annoyed yellow ranger. How could Lina do something as reckless as jump into a mission that Commander Tate had explicitly ordered her to stay away from? This would surely be the final strike that would see the blue ranger back in containment.

Z was about to put that question to Lina but the lina ranger must've read her thought, "You were in trouble, I couldn't stay away", she said firmly. Z's heart fluttered at Lina's words, it was an unexpected feeling but not an unpleasant one. It also threw up a number of confusing questions, primarily why she was feeling giddy with happiness that Charlie had risked her freedom to help her out?

"Can we put the greeting card moment to one side and deal with these guys", an annoyed sounding Gia shouted over the general din of battle. Seeing SPD's B Squad burst through the door and the appearance of the legendary Megaforce Rangers had caused a number of the fired muscle to flee. Those who had stayed to fight were dropping like flies into containment cards. Syd herself snagged a large man attempting to run out the rear exit that Z had pointed out to her earlier.

"Awesome Syd" Z heard Lina mumbled under her breath. She and Z were standing back to back trading blaster fire with a few of the more dedicated henchmen.

"Give it up Lothor", Bridge bellowed over the noise, "there's no escape from here".

"I don't need to escape from here", Lothor shot back, "I have friends in high places red ranger, I'll be out of containment before you know it".

Suddenly a Sword burst through Lothor's chest, " What?" Lothor asked in confusion, Lord Drakkon chuckled darkly, "You know, your kinda pathetic, you're a villain so start acting like one". He said as he removed Saba from Lothor " Oh right, your dead"

Lona's arm began to waiver and Z wondered what was going through her mind. Her few conversations with the blue ranger revealed this wasn't positive. Z got the impression that new ranger wasn't on their side, "What do you want?" she hissed dangerously.

"Oh" Drakkon, "I dont know but lets start with". He leaned a little closer from his crouched position, "your ranger powers specifically".

The blue ranger's finger twitched on the trigger, with the barrel pointed directly at his helmet even a stun blast could be fatal. Sensing her partner needed help, Z grasped Lina's by her free arm, "Don't, he's just trying to get to you".

"Are you so sure about that?" Drakkon taunted, "disowned you might've been but you still carry powers. Join me and i will bring glory back to you".

Doubt was creeping into Lina's mind, Z could see that written over her face. Fortunately she was saved from further torment by the appearance of Gia. The Ariel strolled over with her helmet in hand, "That's enough out of you", she began calmly, "you've upset quite a lot of people".

"I'll be going then" Drakkon said as he faded away.

"Maybe this isn't the place for this conversation", Bridge suggested as he, JJ and Syd approached the three women, "I assume a full debriefing will be given", there was a brief pause before he added, "whoever you are".

" Ariel Hammond, usually known as Kenzi, SPD Special Operations and the current red Space Ranger". She smiled at the other rangers, "There, now we know each other better". She walked towards the rear entrance, "Debriefing at Delta Base in one hour, I need time to change into some proper clothes".

"I like her", Bridge said as he demorphed, scooping up a few containment cards along the way.

"You would", Syd snorted and followed her team mates example.

Z meanwhile gently rubbed Lina's back in an attempt to comfort the blue ranger. Her world had been severely shaken and there was still the risk of going back into containment for disobeying Commander Tate's orders. "Don't listen to that idiot", Bridge attempted to comfort his team mate, "you kicked everyone's ass at the Academy. Even if some money greased the wheels, you earned your place on Time force".

"Yeah then promptly led it down the toilet", Lina sniffed, "I appreciate the effort Carson but I want to be alone for a while". She powered down her suit fully and walked away, shoulders slumped in defeat. A heavy feeling washed over Z, someone she cared about was hurting and there wasn't a single thing she could do about it.